Missouri Botanical Garden Open Conference Systems, TDWG 2011 Annual Conference

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reBIND: Saving endangered data
Katja Luther, Agnes Kirchhoff, David Fichtmüller, Anton Guentsch

Last modified: 2011-10-12

Abstract


In studies and projects a huge amount of biodiversity data is generated. But only a small part of it is used for publications and thereby  available for the scientific community.

Usually the rest of the generated data stays in poorly documented bulks of scientific data, stored on outdated media and software platforms. This is no longer accessible  any more after a period of time because of software version changes or the used media is not supported any more. The data holders do not have the capacity to transform the data files or data bases into standardized, contemporary and well documented formats. Thus they are lost for the scientific community.

At the same time, access to primary biodiversity research data is urgently needed to address pressing scientific questions in a rapidly changing environment. In July 2011 the reBiND project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German research foundation) started with the aim to develop cost-efficient workflows for rescueing legacy databases from biodiversity sciences. reBiND workflows will combine software tools for transforming data stored in outdated database systems into well-documented, standardized, and commonly understood XML-formats (e.g. ABCD) . This is done by providing a system for storing, documenting, and publishing the information as a web service. The workflow will be thoroughly tested, refined and documented in a best-practice handbook.